Motorway Database

This is one of those rare things: a motorway designed to get people into a city centre. Most just go around. Nothing wrong with that really — in this country at least, it's hard to get an urban motorway built. The M602 made a valiant attempt, it took 11 years to built and has still not reached Manchester (though to be fair, it ends in the middle of Salford, which is a city too). There's no chance of it being extended now.

Nonetheless, the M602 does its job very well. It's mostly sunken and runs parallel to a railway line — the original Liverpool and Manchester line, in fact, whose early 19th century bridges now form one span of flyovers crossing the motorway and rail line together. The railway is a slightly run down local route, and its little old Pacer-class trains look quite pathetic next to the rushing traffic of the M602.

At the end of the motorway, the M602 turns directly into the M62. The original plan was for a Liverpool to Manchester motorway named M52, which would have gone straight through the junction. The M52 was never realised because most of it was incorporated into the coast-to-coast M62, leaving a trailing end here to get the less-than-memorable tag M602.

Factfile

Images

Views of the M602 from on and off the road. If you have a photo to contribute, contact me.

Heading in towards Manchester, the route takes some sharp curves before running ruler straight alongside the railway into the city. The banking of this curve doesn't show well in the photo.Photo by Steven Jukes

Beyond junction 2, the motorway is only two lanes. At the terminal junction each lane goes in a different direction, so the bizarre situation exists where two lanes run alongside for about a mile, separated by exit markings.Photo by Steven Jukes

Construction Timeline

When the various parts of the M602 were built, listed in chronological order.